PHOENIX -- The St. Louis Cardinals have a win against Randy Johnson in their pocket and the Arizona Diamondbacks right where they want them: heading to Missouri with the National League Division Series tied at a game apiece.

"We'll do the best we can so we don't have to make that road trip [back here] Saturday," Albert Pujols said after his two-run homer in the first inning and seven strong innings from Woody Williams combined to beat Johnson and Arizona, 4-1, in Wednesday's Game 2.

The victory negated Curt Schilling's three-hit shutout win for Arizona in Game 1 and the Cardinals like the pitching matchup for Game 3 of the best-of-five series. Miguel Batista (11-8, 3.36), whose defensive bungle sabotaged his ninth-inning relief appearance Wednesday, starts for Arizona against Darryl Kile (16-11, 3.09) on Friday.

"There was a sense of urgency to make sure we won today's game," conceded Williams, who also contributed with his bat and glove in a winning postseason debut. "We were fortunate to get out of here with a split."

Cardinals

4

7

0

Diamondbacks

1

5

2

WP: Williams (1-0) LP: Johnson (0-1)SV: Kline (1) HR: Pujols (1)

He was being kind. The confident Cardinals privately believed they had every chance of sweeping the Diamondbacks at Bank One Ballpark. As well as Schilling pitched, even the St. Louis loss was by a lone run. Cardinals pitchers believe the Arizona offense can be shut down by pitching around Luis Gonzalez, and two Arizona runs in two games is pretty good proof.

"There's no sense of urgency, no panicking around here," insisted Gonzalez, who is 0-for-8 in the two games after challenging some of Babe Ruth's records in the previous 162. "We're OK. We're going to be OK."

Well, sense of urgency, or no sense of urgency, the momentum did an about-face less than 24 hours after Schilling's dazzling three-hitter. It's now a best-of-three series, with the next two in St. Louis, where the Cardinals compiled the best home winning percentage in the league playing in front of what many believe is the best hometown crowd in the game. They can't wait to get back to Busch Stadium.

"It's hard to put into words what it's like playing there," said Manager Tony La Russa. "You've got to see it, you've got to experience it to understand."

Maybe the home cooking -- not to mention someone other than Schilling and Johnson on the mound -- will wake up the St. Louis offense, which is batting .164 and is 0-for-12 with runners in scoring position.
in the two games.

Arizona Manager Bob Brenly blamed his team's offensive malaise on Woody Williams and Game 1 starter Matt Morris, who held the Diamondbacks to a .210 batting average and is 1-for-15.with runners in scoring position.

"They've pitched tremendous ballgames," said Brenly. "It's frustrating to the fans, and it's frustrating to the players, but they're not trying to make outs with runners in scoring position. When the pitchers are in trouble, they are making their best pitches of the day."

Brenly defended third baseman Matt Williams, 0-for-7 and booed loudly by the home fans, saying Williams can't wait to play on the road. But Brenly also hinted that lineup changes could be coming.

"Stay tuned," he said.

Brenly paid Woody Williams the ultimate compliment -- "the term, and it's usually used for a position player, is a gamer" -- citing his competitive spirit. Williams contributed with a double that led to St. Louis' third run and speared Tony Womack's line drive. Even when he grounded out, he sprinted to first base, something pitchers just don't do.

Not that there was anything wrong with his pitching. Spotting a fastball, curve and cutter over seven innings, he matched Johnson with nine strikeouts, six before Arizona got its first hit, a two-out single in the fourth by Reggie Sanders.

By then, Johnson was trailing 3-0, and heading toward his seventh consecutive postseason loss. He fell behind quickly, wasting a double-play grounder in the first inning by walking Edgar Renteria with two outs and leaving a 97 mph fastball up and away for Pujols to clobber down the right-field line and into the St. Louis bullpen.

Johnson seemed more annoyed by the walk to Renteria than the display of strength by Pujols. Two innings later, Williams led off with a long double to center field, and he scored after a pair of sacrifices. Johnson had to pitch out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and was lifted after eight.

Then Johnson met reporters, knowing they wanted to hear why he hasn't won a postseason game in his last nine starts. He didn't back down from them, either.

"I pitched the best I could," said Johnson. "After the third run, I pitched five shutout innings. It wasn't good enough to win. Woody Williams pitched better, he shut our offense down. If there's someone to blame, I guess I am. I gave up three runs and I have to take whatever you guys want to say."

Pujols, a lock for NL Rookie of the Year, was 3-for-7 against Johnson in two St. Louis wins in April and six months didn't change anything. The 21-year-old added a single to his homer in four at-bats after going 0-for-4 against Schilling.

Johnson went eight innings and was charged with three earned runs on six hits, with nine strikeouts and two walks. He was replaced by Mike Morgan, who allowed a walk to Jim Edmonds, then tried to flag down Craig Paquette's double-play grounder with the palm of his pitching hand and had to leave injured.

With runners on first and third and one out, Batista induced the perfect comebacker from pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson. Batista had Edmonds caught off third or he could have thrown to second for an inning-ending double play. He wasn't sure what to do, hesitated too long for the double play, then pulled Grace off first base with his throw as Edmonds scored St. Louis' fourth run.

Williams took the Cardinals into the bottom of the eighth inning and was removed after allowing Craig Counsell's leadoff pinch-single. Reliever Steve Kline's first pitch was singled to right field by pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn and the Diamondbacks had their first legitimate threat.

But Brenly, down three runs, had Tony Womack bunt the runners over instead of going for a big inning with his leadoff hitter.

"I just felt at that point in the ballgame, if we could score a couple of runs and turn it into a one-run game in the ninth inning, we had a chance to win that game, and that's why we did it," Brenly said.

Brenly used Danny Bautista to hit for Steve Finley, who drove in the only run in Game 1. Bautista ran the count full, then bounced to third base, scoring Counsell with Colbrunn holding second.

Gonzalez, who delivered it all during the regular season for Arizona while posting MVP-type numbers, then killed the rally with a grounder to first. Kline retired the last six batters he faced for the save.

La Russa, who benched slumping slugger Mark McGwire after his two-strikeout Game 1, showed he was expecting a close game when he had the second batter, Placido Polanco, try to bunt over Fernando Vina, who started the game with a line single. Polanco fouled the bunt-attempt off, and then when he was given the green light, he bounced into a double play.

But Renteria displayed the patience that was lacking the previous night against Schilling, working Johnson for a walk that preceded Pujols' homer.

The score would have been more one-sided had Johnson not escaped a bases-loaded jam in the top of the sixth, compounded by Matt Williams' two-base throwing error. But with no outs and runners on second and third, Johnson struck out Pujols, and after walking Edmonds, he struck out Craig Paquette and got Miguel Cairo to pop-up.

Meanwhile, Woody Williams was looking a lot like Schilling. He was especially tough against the Diamondbacks' potent left-handed hitters. Womack, Finley, Gonzalez and Mark Grace went a combined 1-for-14. The Diamondbacks failed to get a base runner past first while he was in the game.